pizzey, cbs news, cairo. >> glor: back in washingtonpresidentobamaandhouse speaker john boehner did meet at the white house this afternoon for more talks on the fiscal cliff. details were not released but both sides say lines of communication remain open. on face the nation erskine bowles co-chair of the bipartisan deficit commission told bob schieffer he's a bit more optimistic than he was a week ago. >> we were going through the kabuki theatre, one side making an offer, the other rejecting it and that is pretty natural in any deal. but you know, they've started to tango now and you know any time you got two guys in there tangoing you got a chance to get it done. >> glor: meanwhile urging both sides to get this done jeffrey immelt chairman of general electric spoke to charlie rose. >> i would say the business community almost universally speaks with one voice that this needs to get done and get done now. and moving it to next year is just failure. >> glor: you can see the full jeffrey immelt interview first thing tomorrow on cbs "this morning." >> big business is together in wantin

of letting up today20whitehouseand the republicans in congress. >> reporter: in his saturday weekly address, president obama signaled he is open to making cuts on programs like medicare and medicaid if republicans agree to raise tax rates for the rich. >> i'm willing to find ways to bring down the cost of health care without hurting seniors and other americans who depend on it. and i'm willing to make more entitlement spendings cuts on top of the $1 trillion in spending cuts i signed into law last year. >> reporter: his remarks came one day after house speaker john boehner announced the talkes were stalled. >> well, this isn't a progress report because there's no progress to be report. >> reporter: his democratic counter-part ploals blamed boehner for the stalemate. >> what they offered in return was an empty letter lacking in specifics. >> reporter: such is the state of negotiations 23 days before the deadline when federal income tax rates will revert to higher clinton-era leveles, a 2% payroll tax cut will expire, and long-term unemployment benefits will dry up for over two millio